Costume-making 101: Part the First – Inspiration, part 2

So, if you’re still reading then it’s a good sign that you’re either killing time on the train or you’re actually interested in following my progress through my latest costume endeavours.  Either way, it means more traffic on the blog, so I thank you.

When we left my previous entry, it was through some insight provided by my step-daughter that I realised my current progress with the Comic-Con costume wasn’t working out as well as planned; no doubt due to my unwitting tendency to charge headlong into a project without taking time to step back and look at the overall design.

So, what did I have?  Well, I had a concept, some finished pieces, some unfinished pieces and a lot of fabric sitting around.  But I had a concept; I know that because I just said it, so let’s start with that.  Gunslingers, pioneers and six-guns is where I’d started, so that’s where I’d be heading.  Now, to assess what I had and how it fit with the concept.  Time to bust out the camera.

I had a shirt/coat garment I’d (almost) put together originally as an under-shirt.  Note the use of a biscuit tin in lieu of having a mannequin with a head.  And excuse the mess, I didn’t know you were coming:

I had a pair of trousers, dark blue military high-waisted ones with a red pin-stripe on the outside of the leg.  Close to the US Civil War style, specifically the Union cavalry/artillery trousers. I’ll take a picture of these, hang on.

I’m sure someone will correct me on how inaccurate these trousers are.  God bless the internet.

What else?  Well, about a dozen assorted patterns, three or four different colours of cotton drill, some shirting fabric, and my new baby…

The Denix LeMat Civil War revolver:

For those fans of the law out there, this is a UK-legal replica of a design patented before 1870 and so is legal to own without a theatrical licence.  It was purchased from a UK website and cannot in any way be converted to fire projectiles.  It will have inserted red safety caps before being used at any events.  Breath.

So, this is what I had to start with, but where to go with it?  That was simple; apply the concept to the Assassin’s Creed aesthetic and something would hopefully coalesce.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Assassin’s Creed franchise and its stylistic qualities, go out and buy the games.  Play them all.  Apart from the third one, it wasn’t that great.  Go on, I’ll wait.

Ok, if you’re not overly familiar with the design aesthetics of the video game costumes, the best way I can think of describing them would be to say that they are highly stylised versions of correct period costume, incorporating key colours and silhouettes to achieve a pseudo-historical look.  Although always great to look at, there are times that some design elements appear a little “convenient” or forced considering the garment it’s based on.  Applying these principals, my brief becomes much clearer; I need to design a costume based on historically accurate concepts and patterns, but that can (and should) subvert such accuracy to create a dramatic silhouette, especially during running, jumping and climbing trees.  Ten points to anyone who gets that reference…

In addition the colour pallet, whilst not being dictated, is certainly developed as the game series moves forward.  Inarguably the red and white contrast is present for all of the main protagonists, from Altair to Edward, while the secondary colours range from off-white/grey, through various blues and creams, all with a healthy dose of leather and the ever-present iconic assassin’s hood.  Aficionados will no doubt be pointing out that in-game at various points you are able to customise and change your character’s costume colours, but as I am working on an original creation, the colour palette was somewhat dictated to me to keep my costume “canon.”

So what conclusions could I derive from all this late-night scribbling?  Well, although an original design there were a number of considerations I’d need to include when putting this costume together.  In no particular order:

1.   Historical accuracy – to be observed but can, and should, be subverted for increased drama and flair

2. Using what I had – there were several pieces I had to hand and a number of patterns  and fabric pieces already at my disposal

3.   Colour palette – although no hard and fast rules, wherever possible to adhere to the established “classic” colours of the AC franchise

With that in mind, it was time to formulate a plan.  And for tonight, that is ironing, washing up and wine.  Oh, and a little peak at something else I’ve been working on for this project:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/1255059/assassin-toy-prop-kit.html?li=shop-results&materialId=6 – for the kit.

It’s been emotional.

Costume-making 101: Part the First – Inspiration

Hello everyone and welcome to the first of what I plan to be a series of posts explaining how I go about putting together a costume.  First, some caveats.  Now, I’m not everything I say here is the correct way of doing things.  I’m not even going to claim that they are sensible ways of doing things, just that this is how I do things and maybe it’ll help some of you whose brains work in a similar way.  I pity you if it does. 

Says the 32-year-old man sat in front of a laptop on a Wednesday evening, drinking red wine and blogging about costume making. 

Secondly, these ideas will not work every time.  The number of half-finished pieces I have laying around is beyond count.  They’ll be finished one day, just please realise that developing an eye for putting together a costume takes a little practice and a lot of trial and error.

Right, that out of the way, let’s get on with it.

So, for me the first consideration before starting any new project is to get a feel for the overall look or character that I’m trying to portray.  This could be anything from a particular picture, to an individual item of clothing, or even a silhouette.  I’m not always one to extensively document my inspirations, but I do have separate folders on my laptop marked up with the name of each costume to file way anything I’ve seen or read online that put me in the right frame of mind for what I’m trying to achieve. 

Now this may sound like a minor step or an inconsequential time-waster to some, but as I was discussing with my step-daughter only recently, it can really help get the ideas flowing.  By way of example, it was while sketching up ideas for her Comic-Con costume that she admitted to having had come up with a name for her particular character, a back story and a set of personality traits to help define how this fictional person would look and act, the weapons she carried and a proposed colour palette to set the mood of the look. Smart-arse. 

But this did get me thinking; at a point where I was stuck on certain details of my own costume project I took step back and tried to imagine my design appearing on TV or in a computer game and instantly I saw that certain pieces would need to be changed in order to maintain the overall consistency of what I was making.  My particular project had evolved from the idea of a US Civil War-era take on Assassin’s Creed, with a view to using as many period-accurate patterns as possible, adapted to fit the AC aesthetic.  I already had a number of the pieces needed in-progress or finished, but it wasn’t until I took an overall view that I realised the trousers I’d bought wouldn’t look right and the feel of the thing didn’t gel overall, both in the individual items used and as a concept.

Lateral thinking was needed.  And a glass or two of liquid inspiration.  Somewhere at the back of my mind was an image that I’d been toying with as inspiration for this project, the DVD cover of Sergio Leone’s excellent Once Upon a Time in the West.  Then it occurred to me – the reason this whole thing didn’t sit right was in my mind was that although I was pitching the costume as US Civil War, the image I had subconsciously fixed onto was of gun-fights and lawless lands, long overcoats and bandannas tied around faces, 10-gallon hats and six-guns.  So, time to adapt.  And another glass of wine when I realised this meant more work before the May deadline.

Now the point of all this is to hopefully stress that the starting point for costume making isn’t always walking into a shop and buying a pattern, or fabric or a sewing machine, but instead to establish the overall look or feel of what you’re trying to achieve.  Apologies if this all sounds a bit Yoda-esque, but having an idea of the end result can dramatically reduce the amount of unnecessary work you may end up doing, plus keep costs down and limit wastage. 

Next time I’ll be explaining how this revelation impacted on the individual elements of my own project and how applying the concept of a design to the reality of making costumes can guide your hand.  I’ll leave you with the picture that inspired this little creative endeavour.

It’s been emotional.